Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq

The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq or “Interpreter of Desires” by Ibn ‘Arabi is acknowledged as one of the major works of Sufi literature, alongside those of the great Persian poets Attar, Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafiz and Jami. WHATEVER view may be taken of the respective merits of Arabic and Persian poetry, it is generally allowed by those familiar with the mystical literature of both nations that the Arabs excel in prose rather than in verse, while the Persian prose-writers on this subject cannot be compared with the poets. Faridu’ddin ‘Attar, Jalalu’ddin Rumi, Hafiz, and Jami to mention only a few of the great Persian poets whose works, translated into various languages, have introduced the religious philosophy of Sufism to a rapidly widening circle of international culture are as much superior to their Arab rivals, including even the admirable Ibn al-Farid, as the Futuht al-Makkiyya and the Fusus al-Hikam are superior to similar treatises in Persian. The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq is no exception to this rule. The style and the strangeness of its imagery will satisfy those austere spirits for whom literature provides a refined and arduous form of intellectual exercise. The work of such a bold and subtle genius deserves, at any rate, to be studied, and students will find, as a reward for their labour, many noble and striking thoughts and some passages of real beauty. This was one of the first translations of a book by Ibn ‘Arabi into a European language, made by the great translator of Rumi’s Mathnawi, Reynold A. Nicholson. In both cases his translation was of such outstanding quality that it was more than fifty years before other translators began to try their hands at these texts, and his translations still stand the test of time.